London: "It was all due to conditions," reckons legendary India wicket-keeper Farokh Engineer attributing New Zealand's brilliance to "familiarity" with the pitch at Southampton that led to India's defeat in the first World Test Championship finals.
A discernibly disappointed Engineer described the result as "unfortunate" and heart-rending after two years of enthralling performances, especially against Australia, but gave credit to New Zealand's side for making best of the conditions.
"There was a fantastic display of batting and bowling. Unfortunately, India lost. New Zealand played well session after session. They won more sessions than we did. It was all due to conditions. English conditions are quite similar to New Zealand. We would have hammered them if the match was played in India," Engineer told Etv Bharat.
"New Zealand bowlers bowled as per the field, and the conditions suited them. They held their catches too," he said.
Popular opinion may put New Zealand in an advantageous position as they have similar conditions -- weather, pitch -- in their own backyard. All this was compounded by the two-match series against England which provided the players with match practice right ahead of the World Test Championship finals.
Contrarily, Indians were left devoid of an actual match practice and had to satisfy themselves with intra-squad game. The Virat Kohli-led side last played an international game against England in home conditions in March which they won by a comfortable margin.
Consequently, Indian bowlers weren't extracting the same deviation as the Kiwis did except for Shami who took time but came with a fiery spell, dismissing four of their batsmen. Ashwin too outsmarted the New Zealand's batters with his guile and tricks.
However, it was the team's lead bowler, Jasprit Bumrah, who made the least impact among all the bowlers.
"I think Shami bowled superbly and so did Ashwin. Shami, in fact, utilised the condition brilliantly," the former cricketer, who played 46 Tests for India, said.
"Bumrah couldn't get much from the pitch. He is not a swing bowler. He angles the ball in, relies on his yorkers. On the other hand, Tim Southee and Boult are different bowlers. They are much more like Stuart Broad and James Anderson. Genuine swing bowlers. Bumrah is world-class, hits the deck hard but couldn't do well on a particular day," Engineer said.
The loss led to social media and critics questioning Kohli's captaincy and his inability to win ICC tournaments. The argument is backed up by the fact that the Indian team has lost thrice -- 2017 Champion Trophy final, ICC ODI World Cup 2019 and World Test Championship final -- under his captaincy.
The drought has continued for too long and the loss yet again meant comparisons between him and MS Dhoni started trafficking Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
But Engineer is convinced that Virat has done his job well so far. In fact, he supported his decision to go with two spinners at the Rose Bowl where for most of the time the clouds were casting dark shadows on the ground and the sun wasn't up until the last day.
"I would not question Virat Kohli's captaincy. He did pretty well. I won't question his decision of opting for two spinners. Had the game not been interrupted by rain, it would have gone till the fifth and sixth day and spinner would have definitely come into play. He has done well so far," Engineer said.
The legendary wicket-keeper didn't save words to praise a side that has been chasing the title for far too long now. Engineer applauded the "nice guys" for their maiden title win and praised them for producing some of the most talented players in the world.
So much so, that he would have shared the 2019 World Cup with New Zealand if he was England's captain.
"New Zealand is a small country with such a small population. Let's give credit to them. They must be doing something right. They have the least Covid cases in the world too. They are producing some of the best cricketers in the world. They deserved to win. In fact, if I was England's captain, I would have shared the 2019 World Cup title with them," Engineer signed off.
--By Ayushmaan Pandey
